driftfleet | don't fear the reaper

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don't fear the reaper

[The First Battle]

[They come shooting out of the great dark. Guns blazing, no warning. The enemy ships are ragtag, mismatched, and cobbled together from spare parts. But that doesn’t make them weak. No-- years and years of scavenging have turned them into raiders, and they carry their scars with pride.

The battle is more aggressive than previous attacks against the Fleet. Nothing deters the raiders because they’re tough, and if they see a wounded ship floundering, they have no problems swooping in and boarding. Those crews will soon learn the meaning of teamwork if they want to bring the attackers down. They infiltrate the Iskaulit as well, just in case people try to hide there. At this point they are very, very used to tracking down women and children for their slave trade.

If asked why they’re doing this, the answer is simple.

Spare parts have to come from somewhere.

Don’t worry. Nothing on your ship, and no one, will go to waste.]

[A Few Hours Later]

[The raiders are too strong and the Fleet is failing. After what seems like an eternity of warfare, static comes in, broadcasted to the fleet at large. Something or someone is hailing them…

The signal is untraceable and the video is complete static, but they tell the Fleet they are here to help. Ships come swooping out of the black and they open fire on the raiders. They number a dozen, maybe more, and the ships look eerily similar to the ones currently used by the Fleet, if not a bit older and battle-hardened. Their shielding and weaponry is much, much better, however-- and most of them have custom paint or other touches on their hulls.

They’re not invincible, however. A few may end up between a rock and a hard place when the raiders surround them.

Some older residents may remember this particular group of ships. They’re obviously helping out now, but there’s nothing stopping Fleeters from firing on their would-be saviors save a complete lack of weaponry. You do have a Security officer on board, don’t you? They’ll defend themselves by seriously injuring your ship, but they won’t destroy it for some reason. Small mercies.

The raiders soon realize they’re outgunned and jump ship, taking their dead with them. The intercepting fleet pulls back, too, and both parties vanish back into the dark as silently and swiftly as they came. There’s a lot of cleanup to do whether your ship is disabled or you’re preparing to tow someone else.

Hopefully, the people who saved you don’t change their minds.]

[Plot info is here! Feel free to make your own toplevels with fighting, barricading, being boarded, saving others, the aftermath, etc. There's lots to do!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Space Battle]

[Jeyne was in the med bay, continuing her work and research when the first hit came. The sudden jolting of the ship knocked the bowl from her hand, causing it to shatter on the ground. She grasped at the table, shocked and overwhelmed, but struggling to discern what could have caused that movement.

All at once, shots land in rapid precision, rocking the ship more violently. As everything careened about her, Jeyne's grip loosened on the table and her feet tangled under her. She felt her head collide with the edge of the table, the world turning bright and sharp around her before dimming and becoming hazy. She could hear a ringing in her ears and voices in the distance.

Slowly, she pulled herself up, feeling her skin cut and tear against the bowl. She pushed her way to the hall, clutching her head tenderly. Everyone was running about and ship continually lurched about as more hits came. Edging her way towards her room, Jeyne looked about in a daze.]

What's going on?

[Boarding Party]

[There was little to protect herself with. A rudimentary knowledge of archery and the small defensive skills she had been shown by others. With her mind still stalled because of her injury, what she had learned slipped away as she spied the first of the raiders striding into the Golden's corridors.

She had left her room, intent on helping others, but slowly it became apparent that the danger had not diminished but increased. With little else she could do and the growing threat of a boarding party appearing, Jeyne darted back towards her room to bar the door.

They came in large numbers, blocking her way and tearing through the halls wildly. Any doors that were closed, they knocked open. There was no place to hide and she had no means to fight. When they spy her, she knows what they see. She had seen the horrors of war and knew the stories of what could happen to women. It was only when she felt hands on her arms, pulling her backwards that she struggled, screaming loudly as she scratched, kicked and bit.

They were dragging her back, pulling her somewhere (likely towards their ship), but she'd fight them every step of the way. She felt like a wild animal, backed into a corner and clawing for survival.]

[Aftermath]

[Despite the horrors and her own injuries, Jeyne returned to the medical bay to assist with those that needed care and tending to. Working alongside Beverly, she administered first aid for those that were not as seriously hurt. The salves that she had prepared finally becoming useful.

She forced a smile on her face, trying to remain optimistic, even when faced with the severity of the damage on their ship.]

Is that any better?

[Despite the din of battle, Jeyne's screams ring above the cacophony. Riona backhands one of the raiders with her shield while she tries to locate where she is.]

Jeyne!

[She moves, weaving through the ship, desperately trying to find her. She can't be far, I heard-

Just as she rounds a corner, she finds a group of them trying to drag her away. It seems Jeyne's giving them a hard time with her efforts, slowing them down a fair bit.

Riona's about to give them a much harder one.

She grabs her knife and throws it, catching one of them in the chest and sending him to the ground. Breaking out into a sprint, she charges at the rest of them, intending barrel as many down as she can and cut her way through to Jeyne. Her shield is raised, and with a force that one wouldn't expect, given her size, she slams into them.]

[She hears the whizzing of the knife and the sudden impact before she realizes that Riona is there. The men surround her, catching her among the crowd of them and blocking her from being able to escape.

As Riona barrels into them, several stumbled back, knocking into Jeyne and sending sprawling on the floor. She scrambled out of their reach, pressing back into a corner as she watched Riona knock them about with her shield.

Their cries were of both pain and anger.]

Be careful!

[With one dead, Riona counts five - no, six raiders. They've let go of Jeyne, and she seems to have sufficiently drawn their attention. But now they're mad and she's going to have a hard fight on her hands.

Riona scrambles to her feet, narrowly dodging a phaser shot. Her armor slows her down, but she is trading her speed for defense. Better in case, given how quick these phasers are.

With a wide swing, she plows her shield into one raider's face just as he was getting up, knocking him back down. But it leaves her open, allowing one shot to get in and hit her shoulder from one of the raiders who's recovered from her earlier charge. The armor takes the brunt of it, but leaves a dark burn mark in its wake. She brings her shield back in front of her; luckily its made of metal more resistant to their phaser shots.

Riona presses forward, keeping her shield up. As soon as she can, she jabs out with her sword, catching one of them in the chest. She yanks it out to quickly get her arm back behind her shield, the only thing keeping any of those phaser shots from hitting her. A peek above her shield, and she sees Jeyne.]

Jeyne, get out of here!

[She stares in horror, struggling to understand what she should do and where she should go. Instinct screams at her to run, to hide from the sight of the raiders. Yet there is a voice at the back of her head, urging her not to be a craven. Riona was risking her life for her, becoming injured and taking on more than she might be able to manage.

How could she leave her to her death.

Glancing at the ground, Jeyne could see a gun clutched in the hands of one of the dead raiders. Making an impulsive decision, she pried the gun from his stiff fingers. With shaking hands, she raised the weapon and fired, narrowing missing the head of the man who was charging at Riona. She fired once again, letting out a scream of horror as the man collapsed.

Gods! Did she just take a life?]

[Her attention is turned back to the raiders right after she tells Jeyne to run. It's hard to go on the offense when they keep firing on her and trying to attack; being outnumbered makes it harder still. When she sees one charging at her, she drops down, shield up to hopefully hit him low and take him out.

When she hears the first shot, she pays it no mind, mistakenly thinking one of the raiders fired it. It's not until the man charging her collapses and Jeyne screams that she realizes what occurs. Unfortunately, she has no time to check on Jeyne; the Westerosi's bold move refocuses the raiders' attention on her. And now they see her as a potential threat, and not just a body able to be sold.

But on the bright side, now that they're distracted, Riona's presented a golden opportunity. She lunges forward and guts one of the raiders in front of her. She uses her free hand to grab another by the back of his neck and yank him back. In one swift movement, she snaps his neck in half.

With their numbers reduced, Riona's now got a much better chance. In a flurry of strikes and hits, the raiders go down, leaving a blood-soaked ground in their wake.]

Jeyne.

[In this temporary lull, Riona moves to her, bending down to her.]

[The spray of blood and the sound of the dying crash around Jeyne like the torrential waves against the cliffs of the Crag. She trembled against the wall, staring in horror at the man that she had shot.

He was so still and pale. One moment he was alive and then one squeeze of the trigger and he had fallen. Who was he? Did he have a family? A wife? His life was on her conscience and she would see his face in her nightmares, she knew that for certain.

It was only when Riona spoke to her that Jeyne was shaken from her daze. She looked up at the woman with wide eyes, horrified and tear filled.]

What have I done?

Saved my life, more than likely.

[Maybe an exaggeration, but she certainly had made her fight a lot easier. Likely, she also helped prevent a possible injury.]

You not only took an attacker off of me, you distracted them and gave me an opening.

[But she's speaking too much in terms of a warrior, something which Jeyne is not. Her expression softens.]

They attacked us, Jeyne. He tried to drag you away, not caring about who you were or what would happen to you. He does not deserve your tears or grief.

[It could be said that way, but she would carry this image in her nightmares for some time. Whatever he was doing, she knew that no man was completely evil. Robb's army had been invaders, killing several of her father's men and her friends.

Yet she fell in love with him and married him.

This man, whatever his mission, might not be wholly bad. But she would never know...she had taken away the chance.]

Why are they attacking us?

Jeyne Westerling | OTA

boarding party

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Space Battle

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boarding party -- hiding out in the med lab together?

Huddled together in fear - Westerosi damsels

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